MANAGING THE SCIENCE OF GENOME SEQUENCING

The good news is, the Philippines has already established a Philippine Genome Center (PGC). The bad news is, if we can call it that, it is a relatively small research facility under the University of the Philippines (UP), meaning that it is solely dependent on the budget of UP, and it probably is not getting any other support from the government, other than what UP gets from Congress through the General Appropriations Act (GAA). Although I might be coming from the left field, I am going to argue that the Philippines can become one of the topnotchers in scientific research in certain fields, even if we have become the “topnotchers” in certain fields such as the slowness of our traffic flows and the volumes of our contributions to the plastic wastes in our oceans. While some other countries might have become topnotches in the positive fields because of their financial capital, we still could compete with them because we do have a wealth of human capital and because of our outstanding scientists, many of whom have been globally recognized for their inventions and innovations. Even if genome sequencing or DNA sequencing could be a force for good, it could become a force for evil if it is not properly managed. That is the reason why I say that we should already create the policies and the regulatory frameworks to manage this science as early as possible. IKE SENERES/02-27-2024